Yoru still looked like he was in a dream world as we came out of class.

  I nudged his arm. “Are you okay, big man?”

  He looked down, empty-eyed and nodded. “I think I’ll go lie down for a little while.” Then he was off, walking down the hall in a daze.

  Torma nudged me. “We need to move if we’re going to get training in for you before dinner.”

  Ressa came alongside me. “I think I’ll come into the city with you guys, too. I have an order for a robe I need to check up on.”

  Ellaazi stood looking thoughtful for a moment, then nodded her decision to some internal debate. “I’ll come too. I could do with getting out of the walls. Nyvren are not meant to be confined this long.”

  I glanced around the academy grounds. The place was huge and surrounded by parkland and playing fields. Hardly oppressive. I kept those thoughts to myself as we headed across the main courtyard at the front of the school.

  “I haven’t been past these gates since Warden Anso deposited me here. And I didn’t get to see any of the city up close.”

  “It’s your lucky day then,” Ellaazi replied, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d have sworn I heard sarcasm in her tone.

  Ressa wasn’t paying attention. Her eyes were on something off to our left. I glanced over to see what held her so rapt, and noticed Aeloria. Like us, she was heading toward the main gates with the two friends she was almost always with when she wasn’t alone. She didn’t notice us looking over, which was probably just as well, and by some unspoken agreement, Ressa and I sped up to make sure we were through the gates and gone before she arrived.

  At the gates, the two lightly armored guards made to open the gates until one of them muttered something. “Adam Henshaw. You are not permitted to leave academy grounds.”

  “You what?!” Torma replied. “Why the hell can he not leave?”

  “Orders from the Dean.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Ressa added, getting impressively angry in a very short space of time.

  “Then I suggest you take it up with the Dean rather than blocking the gate.”

  Torma threw his hands in the air. “But we’re just heading to the forge for some training! It’d be an hour at best.”

  The guard looked irritated. “You seem to have mistaken me for somebody who makes these kinds of decisions, Grunir. I am a gate guard. I am given my orders and I follow them. I am not the Dean of the academy. I am not the Prime Garazal. If you three wish to leave, by all means, be on your way. Adam Henshaw remains within the walls.”

  “That is outrageous,” Aeloria said from behind us.

  I grimaced at her arrival. As if things couldn’t get any worse.

  The guard sighed. “Lady Besas. This has nothing to do with me. If you think it is unfair, you are more than welcome to go to the Dean as well.”

  “I doubt the Dean is at the root of this injustice, but she is culpable, nonetheless. This is a prestigious academy. Not a prison. If such orders are being given and tolerated, then I fear my only recourse is to speak to my father about this.”

  While I expected ire, rather than support from Aeloria, this whole debacle didn’t seem like a good way to keep a low profile.

  I held up my hands and cleared my throat. “Everyone, it’s fine. Thank you all for standing up for me, but I’d rather not make a scene. There are plenty of ways to train in the academy.” I backed off to make it clear that I was happy to stay and cause no further trouble. “I’m going to catch up with Yoru. I’ll meet you all later for dinner.”

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  I realized with a surge of discomfort that I’d technically included Aeloria and her friends in the meeting for dinner part. I was so close to adding, obviously not you. But I held my tongue.

  All three of my friends moved back with me and allowed Aeloria and her entourage to pass. She looked at me with a neutral expression that I couldn’t read, and while I still nodded further thanks for her standing up for me, I doubted any good would come of it.

  “Set of bastards,” Torma growled as we put a little distance between us and the guards.”

  “They’re just doing their job,” I replied. “You know, there’s no reason for you three to stay back. Seriously, if you had stuff to do, go. I’ll be fine.”

  “I’ll go still,” Torma grumbled. “Might be that I can sort some gear out for you to train with here.”

  “The cloak wasn’t urgent at all,” Ressa said. “It was more a matter of convenience to walk out with you all. I’ll stay and keep you company, Adam,”

  I nodded and looked to Ellaazi. She shrugged and eyed Torma. “I’ll tag along. You might need help carrying things back?”

  The stocky Grunir grinned wide. “I might well. And I’d be glad of the company.”

  We parted ways, with Ressa storming off so much that I struggled to keep up with her smooth, long strides. She passed the main entrance, heading to the garden entrance rather than back to the dorm room and she didn’t speak a word.

  I was beginning to think I’d upset her until we were deep within the trees.

  She slowed so that I could match her pace more easily, and spoke in a whisper, “This is awful. If you can’t leave the academy, how are we going to break free? I was going to take you to meet my brother next free day. One of his demands is that he meets you first.”

  “Shit,” I hissed. I hadn’t even thought about how the confinement would affect my escape. But then I’d already assumed I was confined and Ressa was working on that same assumption. That she wasn’t and now saw further problems made my stomach lurch. “Is there no way for us to communicate from within the walls?”

  “No. He can’t come in here, and any messages sent out are likely to be picked up on. But then...”

  I waited for her to continue and put me out of my suspense. Curiosity got the better of me. “Yeah?”

  “What we need isn’t complicated. How long do you think we have left until the portal closes?”

  I tried to do the maths. The different lengths of days and cycles had me reeling. “I think it works out to about thirteen cycles, though I’m honestly not sure anymore. I had hoped we’d be long gone before I had to worry about it snapping shut on me.”

  “A good amount of time, then. We’ll be finished the year by then too.”

  “We will,” I agreed. “But we don’t know what my keepers will want to do with me then, and it’s cutting it fine when I’m not exactly sure on the date the portal closes.”

  Her lips thinned, her eyes narrowed. “You’re right. We need this sooner rather than later. I’ll speak to my brother and explain the situation. He might have an idea on how to make this work. Whatever happens, we’ll make this work.”

  “I appreciate your positivity, Ressa.”

  She shrugged. “I know it’s not the easiest thing to do, as you’ve only known me for a little while.” She put her hand on my arm. “But trust me, I’ll do everything I can to get you home.”

  It was probably foolish of me, but I found that I did trust her. “Thank you, Ressa. I’m lucky to have found you and the others. I suppose in the meantime, I should practice like crazy to make my own portals.”

  She shook her head, and with an exasperated sigh, she pointed at herself. “Apart from her stuck-up highness Besas, I’m the strongest in our year with Evocation. You are on the lower end of average, and that’s being polite, Adam.

  “Portals are incredibly complex magic. And if I invested all of my time into learning them, if I had a portal tutor and all the equipment necessary, I still doubt I could create what we needed to get you to Unalar.

  “Please, take my advice and focus on your strengths, because the chances are that once we are on Unalar, we will have to fight through to the portal to Earth. Leave the portal to me, and make sure you’re strong enough to take on a Hunter or two.”

  I couldn’t really argue with her words, and the Unalarans were fierce warriors. If we got caught up with Pero the Vyrnsoul, I didn’t think what little magic I knew would help me. “You’re right. I’ll work on that and make sure there’s no stopping us once we’re there.”

  She smiled and seemed to relax. “It’s not ideal, but we have a plan. I’m meeting my brother next free day, so I will discuss it with him then.”

  “And hopefully Torma will come good on my strength training. I’ll need to work on my speed as well.”

  Ressa shook her head. “Speed is only any use if you can direct it. Being able to run fast isn’t a precursor to fighting skills, you’d need agility too.”

  “I’d normally agree, but I already have fighting skills. And if your fast enough in a straight line, then I reckon we just run for it if we get in any trouble.”

  Her face wrinkled up. “I’m not really that fast in a straight line.”

  I patted her on the shoulder and grinned. “Then you can train with me. You were saying how you needed to step away from the magical to focus on the physical, weren’t you?”

  “Yes,” she said, her face full of seriousness. Then it cracked into a smile. “But I didn’t really mean it.”

  We both started laughing, and the last of the tension eased away as we strolled the scenic route back to our room.